I ran across this feature awhile back and didn’t really explore it until now.  I’ve often wanted to send out a class-wide email, but was reluctant to type all the information in to mailing list and send out a mass email that exposed all my students email addresses to each other (I’m the kind of person who forgets about BCC sometimes, like most people may).  This solution lets me send out emails to my entire class, with an individual email going to each student (That I can modify) and doesn’t share the email addresses with the entire group. It also doesn’t rely on a mailing list that is separate from my gradebook that I have to manually update every time a student changes email addresses.  The same feature in Word can also be used for paper letters, envelopes, labels, etc… and not just for classes, but also for groups, family members, business contacts, or anyone you keep tabs on using a spreadsheet!

What you need

Here is what you need to perform the Mail Merge:

1. Your class roster in MS Excel format.  The roster should include first & last name, and email address. 
2. A copy of MS Word, MS Excel, and MS Outlook setup on your computer (You must be able to send email through Outlook for this to work right)

Instructions

(These screenshots were taken with Office 2003 - Office 2007 has the same procedure however minor changes are noted in italics)

1. Open Word (The screen shots below are from MS Word 2003, if you have other versions this should still work, however the menus may look different, etc..)
2. Click Tools, then Letters & Mailings, then Mail Merge (In 2007, click on the Mailings tab, then choose "Start Mail Merge" then "Email Message")
3. In the toolbar on the left, select the document type you are creating.  Letters, e-mail messages, envelopes, labels, etc..  I chose “E-mail messages” and clicked “Next: Starting document” at the bottom
4. You can use the current document as your guide, although I’ve selected to use a template that has fields already set up for me to type my message in, and it inserts each person’s name in the email, which is a nice touch.
5. Hit Next: Select Recipients at the bottom left of the screen. In 2007, choose the "Select Recipients button on the Mailings Tab, selecting "Use existing List"
6. Chose “Browse” and find your gradebook file
7. When you hit Open, it will ask you what sheet your data is in.  For most of us, this will be sheet 1. Hit OK
   
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